bennos

Delta: We put the customer first™. (In the same way that we put boarding zone 1 first.)

Widgets

Since a delayed bag claim with a U.S. airline is a complaint to the DOT, U.S. airlines generally only create delayed bag claims for passengers whose bags they're responsible for transporting (the terminating carrier).

I have no idea why Delta would create a delayed bag claim for you if you arrived in YYC with Alaska. (This is different than Delta simply tracking the delayed bag for you and telling you when it should arrive.) Did you have a DL or AS file reference number?

Melodsal

SkyTeam needs to step up their game. Something like checking luggage through all carriers is pretty elementary.

As an aside I used to check bags from DL through to SQ all the time (from US to LHR to SIN). Guess now DL will be losing my business on the first half of that.

HDQDD

Post of the month. I hereby award you 10 internets points.

HDQDD

From a business standpoint, I understand why airlines are doing this. On a multi-carrier itin, the arriving carrier (carrier A) has to take the bag to the departing airline (carrier B). However, if the bag gets lost, carrier B eats the lost bag claim and bears the cost of returning the bag to it's owner.

The problem with this model, as any ramper will tell you, is that: As carrier A, there's no incentive to get the bag to carrier B. If it doesn't get there, they eat the claim. This becomes an issue when a transfer runner has a bunch of bags to deliver. Odds are they have no idea what time carrier B's flight leaves, so they'll get it to carrier B after they deliver all their own bags (that they *do* have incentive to do).

I can't tell you how many times as carrier B, we received bags from carrier A after the connecting flight had already departed...often many hours after it departed. This was starting to get better when I "retired" from airline biz in 2007. At least then we had technology that would show bags that had properly been checked through. So if carrier B sees they are missing 20 bags from carrier A, they can (hopefully) send someone over to carrier A to see where the bags are.

kop84

Why would any carrier want to make it easier for people to split their journey when there is less money in it for them? If you prefer Burger King hamburgers but McDonald's fries, the guy at the BK counter isn't going to run out and get you the fries you want, you have to make two trips and its not convenient so you usually just end up eating the whole meal at one or the other.

Same principle with airlines, Baggage agreements across airlinesand alliances are a ghost from pre-deregulation/consolidation when one carrier/alliance didn't serve nearly the number of destinations they do now.

Often1

DL will issue a single ticket DL-UA if there is a published fare which there likely is if it's domestic and not too complicated. You simply can't do it online.

If you are using separate tickets to save money, this is simply a cost for the savings.

SamuelS

DL file reference number. DL rebooked me onto AS due to overbooking, so not sure if that's maybe why but still wouldn't explain based on your info above RE the terminating carrier. The customs paperwork was a drag! But got the bag in 24 hours so was not the end of the world.

Of note, AS couldn't even tell if I had a checked bag or not - both prior to boarding when I had to "trust" DL to expedite it over to AS, and on arrival. Again, maybe it was because of the way the rebooked from a DL flight to an AS flight. I usually travel carry-on only and this was my first time with a VDB where I had a checked bag so perhaps this was the exception. Got a nice VDB credit from DL though

Widgets

Deleted

bennos

If you want to make that argument for DL-AA, fine, there's a reasonable discussion to be had there. But when DL won't through check within SkyTeam, which says on its webpage

then that's just nonsense and they should withdraw from the alliance now.

flyerCO

Sounds like the handling agent in YYC screwed up. They saw DL tag and put it in as a DL claim instead of AS. I've had this happen in CHC before flew in on Qantas connecting from SYD on Emirates. Agent saw EK bag tag and since they handle both airlines, got confused and opened an EK claim file. EK was none the happy at the handling agent, but did process it for me. Took a bit longer also, they had to wait for QF to issue me a check, cause even though the bag was lost in DXB, QF was responsible for paying as final carrier.

MSPeconomist

By this reasoning, Dl should be eager to check bags through whenever a competitor (or alliance partner) operates the last segment. It's an easy way to push costs to another airline if the bag is lost (even if DL lost it earlier in the itinerary) and to get goodwill for being willing to check the bag through.

exwannabe

The IATA "last carrier" rule on lost bags apply to the last carrier of a segment. If one has split tickets, then it is the last carrier of each ticket that is responsible for that portion. Thus the pax is in limbo land.

I would seriously avoid checked bags on "conjugated" tickets regardless of if the airline will through-check.

I am surprised that many people book flights on multiple tickets. It does incure a serious time and risk penalty, so the only reason to do so is if neither airline can ticket the other's cheap fares. In the KE and UA examples, I think one can always get the ITN on a single PNR at the same price.

The most common case would be something like a DL award and a DL feeder. But in that case there is no issue.

My case is BR which generally does not allow their cheap fares on other's paper, and will not provide them when combined with others. Not within ST though, so a very marginal case.

Xeno

This policy will complicate my international trips when I am forced to buy a second ticket with a non-partner carrier because SkyTeam cannot get me to my final destination.

exwannabe

DL can ticket on non ST carriers. Can do any carrier they have an interline agreement with. So you are not forced to buy a second ticket just because the other airline is not ST (or DL partner).

I have posted an example (DL-BR) where the cost saving made the overhead of two tickets worthwhile, but that is w/o checked bags. Even under old rules I would not do so with checked bags (instead pay the extra few hundred for a single ticket). And in retrospect my decision logic has been correct. Never missed the connection, but would likely have done so twice with checked bags (and once might have left bags in limbo).

Curious when it is really a good deal to buy multiple tickets when airlines interline with all risks considered (and with bags).